PC Gamers: Let's Talk Video Cards

[Mynd Hed]

So I'm on the cusp of putting in a massive Newegg order with the aim of building myself a new PC, I've got my components almost all picked out, but I'm finding the video card to be a stumbling block. There are a lot more options nowadays than there used to be back in the day when all you needed to know was "Voodoo3, AGP."

I know I want something that's respectable for gaming purposes, but I don't want to break the bank; I'm looking at around a $200 price range, but I'd consider going a little higher if I had to. 256 meg of video RAM seems to be the standard nowadays. PCI-E x16 is my format of choice since it's what my mobo supports.
Beyond that, I'm kind of lost. I hear lots of talk about "pipes" and "shading" and whatnot, but it can be tough to separate the hype from the important stuff. Any advice?

Oh, also, I'd like something that runs relatively cool and quiet, but those aren't as big a set of priorities as price and performance.

[Nimbleness]

I'd say the best performance to price ratio right now is the geforce 7900gt at 300ish depending on the manufacturer. Without going in-depth, I don't see many disagreeing with that anyway.

[ConquerorWorm]

I'm no expert but I find the Radeon X850 that I'm running is quite effective even though it's not totally brand new anymore.

If you want to do some research http://www.tomshardware.com/ has some pretty good information.

[Lord Dalek]

ATI Radeons are good all around graphics card, they also happen to be the only ones to do dvd video decently.

[EinBebop]

Being a NVidia guy, I'd probably go 6800gt at that price range. Or is there a 6900?

[Mynd Hed]

While we're at it, what about sound cards? I'm still kind of split over whether to spring for a sound card or just stick with onboard sound. I wouldn't mind squeezing a few extra frames per by taking one more chore off the CPU's back. But I'd want to go extra cheap with it-- I'm not an audiophile by any means and I'll only be using a 2.1 speaker system and the occasional pair of headphones. I'm having trouble tracking down a half-decent sound card for under $50 or so. Or is the extra CPU load even an issue with a dual-core processor, which is now what I'm strongly considering?

Also, obviously ATI and nVidia are the big GPU makers, but is there any major difference between the makers of the cards themselves (Chaintech, Diamond, Sapphire, Powercolor, etc.)? All the advice I can find seems squarely focused on the GPU itself, ignoring the rest of the card.

[Kenshirou]

X-Fi for sound, definitely. As for video... Lets see. I personally, if I were building a rig RIGHT now, would get the x1900XT/X [depending on whether I saw a good deal on the XTX or not, I would likely get the XT]. I am personally an nVidia guy, but ATI pulled out a good card this time around. I hate Cats [short for ATI's drivers, Catalysts], but I could deal with them for the great performance in select games the XT has over the 7900... You don't want to go cheap on a video card these days unless you are certain you don't mind not having all high on current games out right now. DirectX 10 cards aren't exactly CLOSE, but they will be out this year, towards the end. If you want to get a cheap card now and upgrade then, that's a solid idea too. Crysis is the only DX10-specific engine/game announced thus far, though there are some other titles released next year with "DX10 support", meaning they weren't built for DX10 but they will likely add features from it. Unreal Engine 3 is a DX9 engine which many games will be using in the course of the next few years, so keep that in mind as well. Which means that if you want to get a DX9 card now and go all out, that will probably serve you fine 'til your next upgrade.

[Lord Dalek]

While we're at it, what about sound cards? I'm still kind of split over whether to spring for a sound card or just stick with onboard sound. I wouldn't mind squeezing a few extra frames per by taking one more chore off the CPU's back. But I'd want to go extra cheap with it-- I'm not an audiophile by any means and I'll only be using a 2.1 speaker system and the occasional pair of headphones. I'm having trouble tracking down a half-decent sound card for under $50 or so. Or is the extra CPU load even an issue with a dual-core processor, which is now what I'm strongly considering?

Also, obviously ATI and nVidia are the big GPU makers, but is there any major difference between the makers of the cards themselves (Chaintech, Diamond, Sapphire, Powercolor, etc.)? All the advice I can find seems squarely focused on the GPU itself, ignoring the rest of the card.Well you can get a Creative Audigy 2 or Audigy 4 (THX certified DD-EX, DTS-ES 7.1) for fairly cheep since they've moved on to the X-Fi board. I love my ZS with a passion. Playing Sega CD games processed into 5.1 is so awesome.

Basically the only thing that really matters is the chipset used in the cards themselves, however if you are looking for an All in one card (with TV in and other goodies) you might need to go back to the original makers.